eCatechist

Theology in a Nutshell: God - God's World is Orderly & Good by Steve Mueller

 

 

8. God’s World Is Orderly & Good

Since God’s creative activity not only brought the universe into existence but also ordered it, the vast and intricate network of relationships among creatures reveals God’s dream for the universe.

         God’s world is orderly and good. Everything is located in its proper place and all creatures live together in harmony. The biblical writer even describes God surveying each day’s handiwork and recognizing how “good” it was (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 25). And on the final seventh day, God affirms that the things created are not only good, but “very good” (1:31).

         But the biblical writer knows that this ideal world begun at creation is not the world we live in. So, to account for the discrepancy, there is the recognition that God’s original ideal order was disrupted, disordered and disfigured by the sin of the original human beings. Instead of the right relationship to God, the first humans submitted their loyalty and obedience to other powers in order to be like God (Gen 3:5).

         Desiring to be like God, their creator, they disobeyed God’s command (Gen 3) and sin enters the world. In its widest, most generic sense, sin describes whatever hinders, harms or destroys the right relationships established by God. With their creation-denying sin, evil enters the world and begins to establish a counter network of wrong relationships, creating the world we know that is filled with injustice, hatred and exploitation instead of the rightly ordered harmony that God had established.

         For more, see CCC, #299

Theology in a Nutshell: God - God Creates Our World by Steve Mueller

 

7. God Creates Our World

Because the biblical writer believed that there was only one God, the biblical account of creation stands out from others of its time by its emphasis on how God alone creates and orders everything without any help. Other religions used different images and analogies to describe creation by explaining it as the result of the sexual union of male and female gods, or of a combat between good and evil gods, or of the death of one god whose body becomes the source of new life. But the biblical story emphasizes that God has no help from any other divinity. God acts alone, and is so powerful that bringing the universe into existence is as effortless as our experience of speaking a word. God’s word is utterly powerful and makes this creation not only exist but continue in existence.

         Since God alone is the creator, we can also note that there could be no other force or power that made God create the universe. God’s decision to create was free and so it reveals that God desired a relationship with God’s creatures. The origin of God’s wish to create comes from the desire to love and be loved, to be in a personal relationship that allows one to share all one is and all one has with someone else.

         For more, see CCC, #296.

Theology in a Nutshell: God - God Is Wise and Loving by Steve Mueller

6. God Is Wise & Loving

In the biblical account of creation, we notice that the emphasis is not on creating things from nothing but rather on God’s organizing ability. The creation story describes God, like a fussy housekeeper, separating and organizing the chaos to make sure that everything is in just the right place. After six days of work, God recognizes that this ordered universe is “very good” (Gen 1:31).

         Our first conclusion is that God really knew what God was doing. Everything God does reveals that God wants the universe to exist in harmony. From the moment of its beginning, God’s creation is fashioned into a perfectly ordered organization of right relationships. Everything is in its rightful place, just as God wanted.

         So today when we look around at the universe God organized, we still can marvel at the intelligence and wisdom of God. Scientists who discover the intricate patterns of nature and wrack their brains to figure out the most complicated laws of nature, discover that everything works together in ways that are often so much more subtle and complex than they ever imagined. They are also struck by the way that God seems to have had a comprehensive view so that everything works together for the good of the whole.

         For more, see CCC, #295.